Navalny (film)

Navalny
File:Navalny film.webp Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Daniel Roher
Produced by	Odessa Rae Diane Becker Melanie Miller Shane Boris
Starring	Alexei Navalny Yulia Navalnaya Maria Pevchikh Christo Grozev Leonid Volkov
Music by	Marius de Vries Matt Robertson
Cinematography	Niki Waltl
Edited by	Maya Hawke Langdon Page
Production company	Cottage M Fishbowl Films RaeFilm Studios CNN Films HBO Max
Distributed by	Warner Bros. Pictures
Release dates	January 25, 2022 (2022-01-25) (Sundance) April 11, 2022 (2022-04-11) (United States)
Running time	98 minutes
Country	United States
Language	Russian English
Box office	$106,399

Navalny is a 2022 documentary film directed by Daniel Roher. The film revolves around Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny and events related to his poisoning. It was produced by HBO Max and CNN Films. The film premiered on 25 January 2022 at the Sundance Film Festival.

Synopsis

The film tells about the events related to the poisoning of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny and the subsequent investigation into the poisoning. On 20 August 2020, Navalny was poisoned with a Novichok nerve agent, falling sick during a flight from Tomsk to Moscow, and was hospitalized in serious condition. Navalny was taken to a hospital in Omsk after an emergency landing there, and put in a coma. Two days later, he was evacuated to the Charité hospital in Berlin, Germany. The use of the nerve agent was confirmed by five Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) certified laboratories. Navalny blamed Russian president Vladimir Putin for his poisoning, while the Kremlin has repeatedly denied involvement.

The film shows how Bellingcat journalist Christo Grozev and Maria Pevchikh, the head investigator for Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation, reveal the details of a plot that indicates the involvement of Putin.

The director described the film as "the story of one man and his struggle with an authoritarian regime".

Production

The project was first announced on 13 January 2022. The film was directed by Canadian documentary filmmaker Daniel Roher, who originally planned to make a film about one of the investigations of Christo Grozev. Filming began shortly after Navalny came out of a coma and went on until his arrest in January 2021: according to the main character of the film, the film crew was next to him even at the border control at the airport.

It was produced by HBO Max and CNN Films in partnership with Fishbowl Films, RaeFilm Studios and Cottage M. The project was produced by Fishbowl Films' Diane Becker and Melanie Miller, Cottage M's Shane Boris, RaeFilm Studios Odessa Rae, CNN Films' Amy Entelis and Courtney Sexton, and Maria Pevchikh.

Release

The film premiered on 25 January 2022 at the Sundance Film Festival as the final title in the U.S. Documentary Competition section, where it won the Festival Favorite Award and the Audience Award for the U.S. Documentary Competition. In March 2022, Warner Bros. Pictures acquired U.S. distribution rights to the film, and set it for an April 11, and April 12, 2022, release.

The film is scheduled to premiere on 24 April 2022 on CNN in the US, as well as on the streaming platform CNN+. It will begin streaming on HBO Max on May 26, 2022.

It was shown on BBC2 on 25 March 2022

Reception

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 99% of 81 reviews are positive, with an average rating of 8.6/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Navalny is a documentary that's as gripping as any thriller – but the real-life fight against authoritarianism that it details is deadly serious." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 82 out of 100, based on 22 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".

Guardian critic Phil Harrison awarded it 5/5 stars calling it "... one of the most jaw-dropping things you’ll ever witness", and "this terrifying documentary enters the realms of the far-fetched spy thriller – and yet it’s all true". New York Times film critic Ben Kenigsberg added the film to the "Critic's List" and also praised it saying "Roher has assembled a tense and absorbing look at Navalny and his inner circle".

Accolades

Award	Date of ceremony	Category	Recipient(s)	Result	Ref.
Sundance Film Festival	January 30, 2022	Audience Award: U.S. Documentary	Navalny	Won
		Festival Favorite Award		Won
Critics' Choice Documentary Awards	November 13, 2022	Best Documentary Feature		Nominated
		Best Political Documentary		Won
		Best Director	Daniel Roher	Nominated
		Best Score	Marius de Vries and Matt Robertson	Nominated
		Best Editing	Langdon Page and Maya Daisy Hawke	Nominated
San Diego Film Critics Society	January 6, 2023	Best Documentary	Navalny	Nominated
San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle	January 9, 2023	Best Documentary Feature		Nominated
Cinema Eye Honors	January 12, 2023	Outstanding Non-Fiction Deature	Daniel Roher, Odessa Rae, Diane Becker, Melanie Miller and Shane Boris	Nominated
		Outstanding Production	Odessa Rae, Diane Becker, Melanie Miller and Shane Boris	Won
		Audience Choice Prize	Navalny	Won
		The Unforgettables	Alexei Navalny	Won
Georgia Film Critics Association	January 13, 2023	Best Documentary Film	Navalny	Pending
Seattle Film Critics Society	January 17, 2023	Best Documentary Feature		Pending
Houston Film Critics Society	February 18, 2023	Best Documentary Feature		Pending
Directors Guild of America Awards	February 18, 2023	Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentaries	Daniel Roher	Pending
Cinema for Peace Awards	February 24, 2023	Award for Justice	Navalny	Won
Producers Guild of America Awards	February 25, 2023	Outstanding Producer of Documentary Theatrical Motion Pictures	Navalny	Pending

External links

Navalny at IMDb